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The new All Tackle World Record Brown Trout??

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(IGFA Photo)

On July 16, less than a year after Michigan’s Tom Healy set a new All Tackle World Record for brown trout with a 41 pound, 7 ouncer, Roger Hellen of Franksville, WI banged a monster brown that was larger than the current record — by an ounce (41 pounds, 8 ounces). Hellen hooked the beast while trolling a Fishlander spoon in Lake Michigan off the Wisconsin coast.

Now, here’s where things get a little dicey: Though Hellen’s fish is one ounce heavier than the current all-tackle record, according to IGFA World Record requirements, to replace a record fish weighing 25 pounds or more, the replacement must weigh at least one half of 1 percent more than the existing record. Bottom-line, Healy and Hellen might be sharing an IGFA World Record tie for their two fish. As a baseball guy, I’m not a big fan of ties, but what can you do here?

I have no idea how Hellen’s fish was handled, but if it were thrown on the bottom of the boat and allowed to dry out rather than being put immediately on ice, (again pure speculation on my part…though the fish in the pic looks pretty leathery), it would have lost a significant amount of weight…enough, probably, to make the difference.Click here to read more…

River Monster: The new world record Blue Catfish

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The new record blue cat: If that doesn't stop ya from wanting to go noodlin', I don't know what will! (Photo:IGFA)


Though it looks like something from a B horror flick that crawls out of the sewer to eat unsuspecting college co-eds, this repulsive beast is actually a pending IGFA All Tackle World Record blue catfish.

Greg Bernal of Florissant, MO nabbed this 130-pound giant blue cat (think about that one for a minute…130 pounds of catfish) while fishing on the Missouri River, out of North County, MO with an Asian carp for bait. The battle lasted 20 minutes and the fish bested the previous world record for the species by 6 pounds. The old mark for blue cats was a 124 pounder caught five years ago by Timothy Pruitt from the Mississippi River near Alton, Ill.

Guess it’s catfish dinner tonight, honey!

For more world record info, check out IGFA.org

Mike’s Mid-Day Mondo Mackinaw Madness!

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A quick pic and then the fish went back into the lake!

Lake Tahoe big fish guru Mike Nielsen of Tahoe Topliners has struck again! Just a little over a year ago, Mike guided an angler to the lake record brown trout and now he checks in with a jumbo mack just ounces shy of 30 pounds.

The best part of this story (besides the fact that he released the fish) is how it was caught. We’ll let Mike tell the story…Click here to read more…

Beast from the Depths! A new pending world record Wels Catfish!

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Open up and say ahhhhh! (IGFA photo)


Holy creature from the Black Lagoon, Batman! While this titanic beast may look like something that may slither up out of a storm sewer and start devouring unsuspecting city dwellers in some John Carpenter flick, it’s actually a pending International Game Fish Association All-Tackle Word Record wels catfish!

While fishing with a live bream on the River Po in Mantova, Italy with IGFA Captain Alberto Bartoli, angler Roberto Godi hooked into this enormous, 250.3-pound cat…which fought like a wounded wildebeest for 45 minutes before being subdued…weighed…and released.
Click here to read more…